Chapter VI: The Dramatization of Ruth

_Ruth_ was dramatized by the club during the fall of the year because it is a story of the Hebrew harvest time. In order fully to interpret the life of Ruth it was necessary for the children to secure information concerning the barley harvest in ancient Palestine, and also to become familiar with the old customs involved in the story. Many children brought pictures which illustrated the points under discussion, and some of them contributed by telling what they had been able to read at home. Independence on the part of the children in looking up data was always encouraged by the leader; the information which she had to give enriched and supplemented that which was brought in by them.

During the process of this dramatization constant comparisons were made with our own harvest time, and the study of the Hebrew harvest feasts and festivals served to increase the understanding and appreciation of our one harvest festival at Thanksgiving.

The method of procedure in presenting this story for dramatization follows closely that described in connection with _Joseph._ The Bible version of _Ruth_ is so simply and beautifully told that it needed very little adapting. When it was first given to the children parts of it were read and parts were told by the leader. Many scenes were then planned, but these were soon cut down to the three necessary scenes. From the first the children used much of the Bible language as they acted the story. The beauty and the poetry of it caused them to remember readily the exact wording in many cases.

Seven meetings were required before the group was satisfied with the play as a product of their best effort. As was the case with the other plays given by the club, the children who were to take the parts in the final presentation were selected by the group and not by the leader in charge. Every child knew each part and could represent any character, but children were chosen for specific parts because they seemed to represent certain characters unusually well.

The dramatization of this story called for much construction work. The reapers made their sickles of cardboard and covered them with gold or silver paper or painted them. They found pictures which gave the shape, and from these they cut the patterns (Fig. 15). One little girl brought a real sickle which had once belonged to a Filipino. It gave her happiness to reap with it, but the others were just as content to use the sickles from cardboard.

The need for a harvest song was felt, and in consequence a little song that most of the children knew was decided upon. The reapers sang it as they reaped and while Boaz was walking through his grain field. There was no real grain nor anything to represent it, the children deciding to leave this to the imagination. The action of the reapers and the words that were spoken gave evidence enough that grain was growing there.

There was very little stage setting used in the play. The stage was bare in the first scene in order to represent the road from Moab to Bethlehem. In the second scene a big earthenware jar was needed from which the reapers could drink. The third scene required a box which represented a seat by the city gate; the door which led off the stage at the side was used for the gate.

The action and the grouping of people in the third scene required careful planning by the children. Women came through the gate and passed down the street with water jugs on their shoulders; men gathered in groups to discuss bits of news; Boaz walked toward the gate and sat waiting for his kinsman. Finally, when the cousin appeared, Boaz hailed him and had him sit down. The citizens who were standing near were asked to be witnesses in this business transaction. That one man should take off his shoe and hand it to another was a custom that created much interest among the children. They began to examine pictures for the kinds of shoes that were worn, and this led many of them to wear their own sandals, which approached most nearly to those seen in the pictures. The children who did not own sandals tried to make them with cardboard and strips of cloth (see Fig. 26).

The costuming was very simple. The reapers wore the same little brown slips which had been worn in every play that had been given. Boaz enriched his costume by wearing brighter colors in his headdress and girdle and by wearing a slip that was longer than the others.

The play follows as it was finally given.

RUTH

SCENE I

PLACE: In Moab, on the road to Judah.

CHARACTERS: Naomi, Ruth, Orpah.

SETTING: Naomi, Ruth, Orpah, are on the road going
toward Judah.

[NAOMI _stops and faces about._]

_Naomi:_ Turn back, my daughters-in-law; return each of you
to your mother's house. You have come with me far enough. I
must take the rest of my journey alone.

_Orpah and Ruth:_ Oh, do not send us back! We will not leave
thee!

_Naomi:_ Yea, you must leave me now. I am going home to my
own country and my own people, to Bethlehem, Judah! It is
ten long years since I left there to come to dwell in your
land of Moab. But now that the famine is over I must
return.

_Orpah:_ But, Naomi, our mother-in-law, we love thee. Do not
thou leave us!

_Naomi:_ I must go. I came to this country happy--with my
husband and two sons--but misfortune has dealt bitterly with
me. My husband first died, and now my two sons, your
husbands, are taken from me. I am old and sad. I have no one
left to comfort me. I must go back to mine own people. Leave
me, my daughters, and God bless you!

[_Both daughters weep._]

_Orpah_ [_weeping and kissing_ NAOMI]: If thou wilt be
happier, then thou must leave us. I will return to my
mother's house as thou sayest. [_She goes off slowly,
weeping._]

[RUTH _still stands by weeping. Takes hold of_ NAOMI'S
_hand._]

_Naomi:_ Behold, Orpah, thy sister-in-law, has gone back to
her people and unto her gods; return thou after thy
sister-in-law.

_Ruth:_ Intreat me not to leave thee, nor to return from
following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and
where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my
people, and thy God my God: where thou diest, will I die,
and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more
also, if aught but death part thee and me.

_Naomi:_ Since thou art so steadfastly minded to go with me,
Ruth, I will cease urging thee. Come, thou mayest go with me
to Bethlehem.

SCENE II

PLACE: In the barley fields of Boaz.

TIME: The harvest season.

CHARACTERS: Boaz, Ruth, Head Reaper, Reapers, Gleaners.

[_The reapers come in with their sickles, followed by
the gleaners._]

_Head Reaper:_ Truly we have a wonderful harvest this year!

_First Reaper:_ Yea, we will have food enough for ourselves
and for all the poor in our city of Bethlehem.

_Head Reaper:_ It is the great God that hath given us this
bounty.

[_All sing harvest song as they reap. While they are
singing_ RUTH _comes in and begins to pick up the
grain._]

_Second Reaper_ [_looking toward the entrance to the
field_]: The master is coming, the great Boaz!

[_All reapers look in that direction as they stand,
resting their sickles on the ground._ BOAZ _enters._]

_Boaz:_ The Lord be with you!

_Reapers:_ The Lord bless thee!

[_All go to work again, singing as before._ BOAZ _walks
among them; he sees_ RUTH _and watches her._]

_Boaz_ [_to the_ HEAD REAPER]: My good man, I would speak a
word with thee; come hither.

_Head Reaper:_ Speak, O master!

_Boaz:_ Whose damsel is this that gathereth grain after the
reapers?

_Head Reaper:_ My master, she is Ruth, the Moabitish damsel
that came back with Naomi, thy kinswoman. She hath been
gleaning here since early morning.

_Boaz:_ Go, bid the reapers not to harm her, and bid them
let fall purposely some of the handfuls of grain for her.

[_The_ HEAD REAPER _bows low and goes back among the
reapers._]

_Boaz_ [_to_ RUTH]: Hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to
glean in another field, but stay here by my reapers. Let
thine eyes be on the reapers, and do thou glean that which
they leave behind. When thou art athirst, go unto the
vessels and drink that which the young men have drawn.

_Ruth_ [_bows to the ground_]: Why have I found such favor
in thine eyes, seeing that I am a stranger in the land?

_Boaz:_ It has been told me of thy great kindness to thy
mother-in-law, Naomi; how thou didst leave thine own people
to come with her and be among strangers; and how thou didst
leave thy gods to take the God of the children of Israel.
The Lord will bless thee for this.

_Ruth:_ I thank thee, O great Boaz, for thou hast comforted
me and thou hast spoken friendly words unto me.

_Boaz:_ Come hither at meal times and eat of the bread and
dip thy morsel in the vinegar with my reapers.

[_The reapers have departed._ BOAZ _goes off._]

_Ruth:_ The Lord God is truly good unto me!

SCENE III

PLACE: At the gate of the city.

CHARACTERS: Boaz, a Cousin of Naomi, Ten Citizens, Ruth,
Naomi.

[_Several citizens stand in groups, talking._ BOAZ
_enters._]

_Boaz_ [_speaks to one of the group_]: Hast thou seen my
cousin pass this way? I am seeking him.

_First Citizen:_ Nay, good sir, I have not seen him.

_Boaz:_ I must speak with him; I will wait here by the city
gate; perchance he will come soon.

[_One or two citizens pass by and speak to_ BOAZ,
_saying, "Good-day, sir." Enter_ KINSMAN.]

_Boaz:_ Ho, Kinsman, turn aside! I would have a word with
thee. Sit thee down.

[KINSMAN _sits down._]

_Kinsman:_ What wilt thou, Cousin?

_Boaz:_ I would speak about a matter of importance; wait
thou here until I can bring witnesses. [_He turns to
citizens._] A piece of land is about to be sold; will ten
citizens witness this deed?

_Citizens:_ Aye, indeed. [_They come forward._]

_Boaz:_ Sit ye down here. [_They sit down._] [_To_ KINSMAN]:
Dost thou remember Naomi, our kinswoman, who went with her
husband and two sons to the land of Moab?

_Kinsman:_ Yea, I do know Naomi.

_Boaz:_ She selleth a parcel of land which was her
husband's. Now, thou art nearest of kin to Naomi, so I
thought to advise thee that thou mayest have the first
chance to redeem the land in the presence of the elders of
the city. If thou dost not care to redeem it, then the right
to redeem it cometh to me, for I am next of kin. What wilt
thou do?

_Kinsman:_ I will buy the land from our kinswoman, Naomi.

_Boaz:_ On the day that thou buyest the field from the hand
of Naomi, thou also takest Ruth, the Moabitess, for thy
wife, according to our custom and law.

_Kinsman:_ Then I will not redeem the land, for I cannot
take Ruth for my wife. Take thou my right to redeem it and
buy it for thyself.

_Boaz_ [_taking off his shoe and giving it to the_ KINSMAN,
_he says to the witnesses_]: Ye are witnesses this day that
I have bought this parcel of land from Naomi and that I buy
also, as my wife, Ruth, the daughter-in-law of Naomi. Of all
this ye are witnesses.

_Citizens:_ We are witnesses. [_Bow._]

[KINSMAN _returns shoe to_ BOAZ _and walks off._ RUTH
_and_ NAOMI _come through the street._]

_Boaz:_ Ye are well met, Naomi, my kinswoman, and Ruth. I
have good news for you; I have bought your land and I can
now take Ruth for my wife. Come, all ye fellow-citizens, for
the wedding feast is prepared at my house!

[_Takes_ RUTH _by the hand._]

_Naomi:_ Blessed am I that I should live to see this good
thing come to pass! The Lord hath been most gracious unto
me!

END